mcbee



Feb; 3; 1931. I L; MCBEE 1,790,872

DOLL AND TOY ANIMAL Filed Oct, 4. 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I mezw-o: Lama/vs M 555.

A? TTOPNE 15 Feb. 3, 1931.

L. MCBEE ,DOLL AND TQY ANIMAL .Filed Oct. 4. 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 VENTOE! L ops/v.5 M? 5 5 Patented Feb. 3, 1931 LOBENE MCBEE, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI DOLL ANDVTOY' ANIMAL prl eati u ti s. Qst be a .2 are 59. amia- This invention relates to dolls and toy animals of the type that consist of a fabric casing filled with cotton or some other material'of a similar nature. l

i' The main object of my invention is to provide an inexpensive doll or toy animal that has all of the desirable features and characteristics of the conventional rag doll or stuffed animal, and the added advantage of presenting a natural or life-like appearancel Another object is to provide astufied fabric doll or toy animal that is inexpensive to ai ll irs a sy o P ce, an at s design or construction that the face portion 16 of same can be chan ed or modified easily,

durin the process of V duce iii'erent expressions or to produce irregularities such as are found in the faces of human beings and animals.

80 Fi ure 1 of the drawings is a front eleva me w of the a ineof th v t nsrtie of a doll head constructed in accordance with my invention.

Figure 2 is r a sv tisns iev o aid casingl Figuret i a vertical e tiens ew, taken on the line 3- -3 of Figure l.

Figure 4k is a front elevational view of said casing, after it has been stuffed or filled.

Figure 5 is a verticalsectional view, talgen on the line 5f'5 of Figure Figure 6 is an elevational view, showing the back piece of the head POItlOI attached tothe casin of the face portion.

Figure 7 1s a vertical sectional view, talaen on the line 77 of Figure 6.

Figure 8 is an elevational view, showing the head casing reversed or turned inside out and in readiness to receive the cotton or similar material that is used as a filling for the head casing. I

Figure 9 is a vertical sectional view, taken on the line 99 of Figure 8! Figure 10 is a vertical sectional view, Sim:

In the accompanying drawings which illusmsn if i re t P ilar to Figure 9, showing the head casing trate the preferred form of my invention, and in Figures '9 and 10 designatej t wo pieces of shaped fabric, preferably' nori stretchable fabric, whose edge portions are joined together in any suitable way, prefer ably by thread stitches, sofas to form teasi g that is adapted to be stulfed or filled a soft, fluffy substance, such ascotton, kap okjor t er u ta le m e ia i of t shamans,

so as, to form the. head portion of a doll or animal; The fas ns id i O t 'sr sls also composed'of a fabric casing, stu fied or lsd' wi h 2 ma ial ike. o t i r'kaeeki but the casingof the face portion previded t s fr nt Pis e 0 formed o t s s ble. f b c; o fab that s ies ela i ti- 's s sblm. t e a ng iii e fa e ps ioi s or d f om pi ce f 0t 615 tl ekin own commercially as j r y, hi h is. sew d or ce s tsd, in any Qthsf s itable y a t Pe h ra edge o the FQ se A of the a in f he hea porti ii Ord r to pi'ddiits a fa s ha n atures.v at s ssly im at h fea e of a human a e t e f n pie 'Qfthe' t e e ition i P manen ly tonntietsii t th f ont Pis e A r of h e s ii g in he zone tlit ey e is 'siid' mQ hJ ii cotton, k p k or t stit bl i t tr s y s t adiw' d tt r Pa ked it the a in of he tac por ion s0 as to m a fess provide with a p rud ng 9s this, sh ets and o head that. are o r e a it 9r sh pe and I hith sl ssly s m la e' hsi st i's Q s. human face, the front piece C of the face ss iig' ha in sufi i iit elas ic ty or b n pab o tr h n s i i ie i y t i s r 7 i b i st e h d tsa d held in nu engagement with the bulged portions of the filling y of the face portion that constitute the nose,chin, cheeks,and forehead of the face, In the form of my invention herein shown, the stretchable front'pieceC of the face casing is. attached to the front piece of the head casing by a straight row or slightly curved row of stitches 1 that constitute the mouth line located between the 1ips2 of the face, and also by two substantially circularor ring-shaped rows of stitches 3 thatde fine or form the outlines of the eyes 4 of the face. At the point where the nose 5 of the face is located, the front piece O of the casing is attached to the front piece A of the head casing, either by a straight row of stitches 6, or by two separated stitches that constitute or represent the nostrils of the nose. At a point below the mouth the front piece 0 of the face casing is attached to the front piece A of the head casing by a segmental row of stitches 7 that outlines the chin or lower portion of the face and separates it from the neck portion of the doll. It is immaterial, however, so far as my broad idea is concerned, what means is employed to permanently connect the front piece 0 of the face portion to the front piece A of the head casing in the zone of the eyes, the nose and the mouth. The eyes a and lips 2 of the face can be produced in various ways without departing from the spirit of my invention, such, for example, as applying paint or coloring material to the fabric C that constitutes the front piece of the face casing or attaching objects to said piece of fabric 0 so as to represent eyes and lips. Usually, the face piece G will be formed from a-flesh colored piece of stretchable fabric that is colored or tinted in such a way as to produce rosy cheeks and to simulate hair 8 that surrounds the face of the doll. 7

It is also immaterial, so far as my broad idea is concerned, what procedure is employed to fill or stuff the head casing and the face casing and combine the three pieces of material A, B and C that constitute said casings. I prefer, however, to construct the head of the article in the following manner, as I have found that such a method of manufacture enables a doll head or toy animal head that is very realistic or life-like, to be produced easily, quickly and at a low cost. The first step in the method of'inanufacturing the head is to attach a piece of stretchable material C, such as jersey, to a piece of fabric A, preferably non-stretchable fabric, such as sateen or cotton cloth, so as to form the casing of the face portion of the article, said pieces of material being cut to the shape shown in Figures 1 and 2 and joined together at their peripheral edges by a circular row of stitches 7 that extends around the major portion of the peripheral edges of said pieces, but which terminates at opposite sides of a gap, designated by the reference character 7 in Figure 2, that constitutes a slit, or opening through which the filling y can subsequently be packed into the casing of the face portion. This circular row of stitches T outlines the chin portion of theface, as previously described, and separates the same from the neck portion of the doll. The fabric A that constitutes the front piece of the head casing is preferably used to form part of the body casing, and the upper end portion of same comprises a substantially circularshaped part attached to a neck portion that is of substantially less width than the diameter of the head casing. The front piece C of the face casing is of substantially the same outline and dimensions as the upper end portion of the fabric A, but vterminates at a point slightly below the neck portion and is attached to the piece of fabric A by a horizontal row of stitches 9. In the completed doll the lower end portion of the face piece C, located below the -chin of the face, constitutes the outer covering of the neck portion of the doll. WVhile the pieces A and C are arranged in a flat condition and in superimposed relation, the stitches 1, 3 and 6, previously referred to, that constitute the mouth slit, the outline of the eyes and the nostrils are inserted, thereby enabling the face casing to be produced quickly and easily by a simple sewing operation.

The next step in the operation of producing the face is to fill the casing formed by the pieces of fabric A and G, which operation is performed by introducing cotton, kapok or other similar material 'y through the gap 7 at the upper end of the casing, and packing said material 3 in the casing in such a way as to produce a protruding forehead, a protruding nose, conveXed checks that bulge outwardly and which merge into a chin that protrudes beyond the mouth slit, and an upper lip portion that bulges forwardly between the stitches 1 and 6 that connect the face piece 0 to the other member A of the face casing.

After the face casing has been filled and molded, as above described, and as illustrated in Figures 1 to 5, inclusive, the filled or stuffed face casing is arranged in superimposed relation with a piece of fabric B that constitutes the back piece of the head casing in such a way that the stretchable fabric 0 which constitutes the front piece of the face casing is interposed between the two pieces of nonstretchable fabric A and B that constitute the head casing, as shown in Figure 7 the said three pieces of material B, C and A being thereafter joined together by a circular row of stitches 10, which, as shown in Figure 6, extends around the peripheral edges of said pieces, but not transversely across the contracted intermediate portions of said pieces that constitute the neck portion of the doll. In the above described operation of attaching the'stufi'ed face casing to the back piece B of the head casing the gap or filling opening 7 a of the face casing becomes closed by the stitches 10, thereby finishing the operation of producing the face portion of the article. The next step is to turn the structure inside out, the same as a sock or stocking is turned, so as to cause the face piece 0 to be arranged on the outside of the structure, as shown in Figure8 and 9. The final step in the operation of constructing the head is to fill the head casing, formed by the pieces A and B, with cotton, kapok or similar material a, which operation is formed simultaneously with the operation of stuffing or filling the body casing composed of the pieces of fabric A and B whose upper end portions constitute the head casing and part of the face casing.

The face of the doll can'be decorated or painted at the completion of the stuffing operation, or, if desired, thestretchable piece of fabric C that constitutes the face of the doll can be stamped, painted or otherwise marked to produce or simulate eyes, lips and highly colored cheeks, prior to the operation of attaching the face piece G to the front piece A of the head casing. An article of the construction above described has all of the de sirable features or characteristics of a rag doll or stuffed toy animal, and it has the added advantage of presenting a very realistic and life-like appearance, due to the fact that the face has a protruding nose, forehead, chin and checks, that are of irregular shape or contour and which can be modified easily during the course of manufacture to produce 7 different expressions, or to produce irregularities of feature, such as exist in human faces. The advantages above described, coupled with the fact that the article can be produced easily, quickly and at a very slight increase in the cost of manufacturing a rag doll or stuffed toy animal of conventional design, provided with a flat face or face devoid of any expression or protruding features,

makes my inventionof great commercial utility and enables children to be supplied with a very attractive and practical toy that can be used safely by a small child without liabilit of causing injuries of the kind that are pro need from dolls or toy animals formed from rigid or hard molded material, or from objects that can be easily torn apart or disassociated.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent .is:

1. An article of the kind described, provided with a face portion formed from a front piece of stretchable fabric and an opposed piece of non-stretchable fabric secured together at their peripheral edges, means for permanently connecting said two pieces together in the zone of the eyes, nose. mouth and chin, and a soft, flufi'y filling material packed in the space between said pieces of fabric so as to produce protruding face features.

2. An article of the kind described, provided with a head formed from three pieces of fabric cut to form the outline of a head into said casings in such a way as to produce a head having a face provided with protruding features that vary in shape and outline according to the way said packing is rammed into said face casing.

3. An article of the kind described, proof the eyes, the chin, the mouth line and the nostrils, and a soft fibrous material packed into the space between said stretchable face piece and the front piece of the head casing in such a way as to produce protruding face features of irregular shape or contour.

LOB-ENE MoBEE. 

